This invention relates to a training aid which is readily attached to the cap of a golfer to signal any improper head movement during a golf swing. The attainment of a superior golf game requires rigorous control over a number of key body positions; the stance, the golf grip, and head position being amongst the most important. Professional golfers recognize the importance of keeping the head down and immobile during that critical period of the gold swing just prior to the ball being struck by the club. Head movement during this period will result in reflex motions of other body muscles which have the effect of deflecting the swing to cause the club head to strike the ball slightly off the optimum striking zone. This, of course, introduces unwanted deviation from the desired directional path of the ball.
Problems in keeping the head immobile and the eyes fixed on the ball during the swing are experienced by many golfers. There is a natural tendency to turn the head in the direction of the swing to watch the ball. Also, since so many factors need to be combined to achieve a successful swing, it is an easy matter to forget the importance of keeping the head immobile.
A large number of training aids for teaching proper head positioning have been invented as typified by U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,064, issued Mar. 13, 1962 to B. W. Flood; U.S. Pat. No. 3,594,007, issued July 20, 1971 to Karl H. Kalberer; U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,509, issued July 4, 1978 to Nellis D. Van Krevelen; U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,982, issued July 9, 1985 to Norman Salzman; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,166, issued Dec. 24, 1985 to Edwin E. Emerson.
The patent to Flood shows a motion sensor mounted in a golfer's cap. Head motion causes a rolling ball in the sensor to hit a wall surface emitting an indicating click. Kalberer shows an inertia operated arm which is clipped to the visor of a golfer's cap. Sudden head movement trips a spring pulling the arm against the visor signalling improper head motion. Van Krevelen shows a bell pivotally mounted on the end of the visor of a golfer's cap to signal head motion. Salzman shows a wire contact mounted on a head band and arranged to cooperate with a shoulder mounted contact. A signalling circuit is completed when the head mounted contact touches the shoulder contact. Emerson shows a momentum switch mounted on the end of the visor of a golfer's cap. Movement of the head is sensed by the momentum switch to operate a signalling device. The momentum switch can be disabled by an inhibitor switch if the head moves after the ball is struck.
While the above mentioned patents do teach head control training devices, the prior art does not teach a head control training device having the flexibility of attachment, the compactness, the feature of adjustability, and the overall ease of operation found in the instant invention.